Rain damage: State to seek funds from Centre

Relief measures have been taken up on a war-footing, says Siddaramaiah

The State government will soon submit a memorandum to the Centre seeking funds to tackle rain damage estimated at nearly Rs. 350 crore, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Tuesday.

Addressing presspersons after a video conference with officials and Ministers camping in rain-hit districts, the Chief Minister said relief measures had been taken up on a war-footing and at least Rs. 10 crore had been released to each of the eight rain-hit districts for relief work. An additional Rs. 50 crore was released on Monday.

Stating that the district in-charge Ministers were given the responsibility of monitoring relief work, the Chief Minister dismissed the BJP’s allegations that the government was not doing anything.

He said the damage might be more than estimated. “We have asked officials from various departments to conduct a survey and prepare a comprehensive report on the rain damage in the next four days. After that, we will submit a memorandum seeking assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund,” he said.

Twenty-two people and 54 livestock had died, 8,110 houses were damaged (partially or completely), and crops on 53,316 hectares of land were destroyed. Crop damage was more than 50 per cent on 28,000 hectares of land. This apart, 2,247 km of roads and 706 bridges had been damaged, while 43 tanks had breached, he said.

Twelve ganji centres had been started in the worst-affected districts of Gadag, Gulbarga and Raichur and deputy commissioners had been directed to restore basic facilities with immediate effect.

The Chief Minister said compensation of Rs. 1.5 lakh each had been given to families of the deceased. That apart, the Gulbarga Municipal Corporation had paid Rs. 1 lakh to each family

Byre Gowda absent

Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda was conspicuous by his absence. To a question, the Chief Minister said: “I am personally monitoring everything. He is also monitoring.”

The Chief Minister was heard reprimanding Yadgir district in-charge Minister Baburao Chinchansur for not being present in his district.

Ministers V. Srinivas Prasad, Qamurul Islam, Sharanprakash Patil and H. Anjaneya were present.